PRAISE FOR THE SOUTH.

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXVI, Issue 20603, 2 May 1935, Page 6

PRAISE FOR THE SOUTH.

Impression of Minister of Education. Returning thanks for the cordial welcome extended to him by the. president, Mr F. W. Johnston, at the meeting last night of the executive of the Canterbury Progress League the Hon S. G. Smith, Minister of Education and Employment, said he realised that the South Island had been neglected in certain instances in the past and it should have the same opportunities as the North Island with regard to attracting tourists. “Yesterday I had the pleasure of driving over to Akaroa,” said the Minister, “ and I can honestly say there is not a more beautiful drive in the whole of New Zealand. It has beauty and grandeur, and so far as I am concerned j'ou will find me a real champion of that route.” (Hear, hear.) The Schools. Touching on the schools he had visited Mr Smith said that at Fendalton was one of the finest of its kind he

had seen in the Dominion. With regard to East Christchurch school, however, it was no place to which to send children if they were to be healthy. St Albans school, too, was a ramshackle building and should never have been built. He would do his part to see what could be done to rectify the mistakes of the past in the directions indicated, and in that respect he would endeavour to help with the work of the Canterbury Progress League (applause).